Now, as third-class cadets, or sophomores, they were no longer required to run or hold their backpacks a certain way. Instead, they were being trained to be the leaders and mentors of those who came after them.
“Hello?” said Dutch, waving his hand in front of Gehring’s face.
“What?”
“I asked if you were going to the gym.”
“Nah. I’ve got a big test tomorrow that I need to study for. If I’m done in time, I’ll go later.”
“Chickenshit,” said Dutch, poking him. “You’re just intimidated by Frenchie’s workout routine.”
“Don’t call her that; she hates it. And you’re wrong. I need to study.”
“Yeah, well, I need to say a few prayers that I pass my PT test tomorrow.” Dutch pointed at the cadet chapel that sat on the west side of the Terrazzo.
It was both the most recognizable building at the United States Air Force Academy and the most visited man-made tourist attraction in the state of Colorado. The aluminum, glass, and steel structure featured seventeen spires that shot one hundred and fifty feet into the sky like jets on a vertical ascent.
After graduation, many of the newly commissioned second lieutenants got married there before leaving for their first assignment.
“Tell you what, you go pray, and I’ll go study, and maybe later you, me, and Manon can meet up.”
“Gotta love a girl who can kick your ass,” Dutch muttered, laughing while he walked away.
Dutch had been right, Alegria could’ve kicked his ass then, and probably still could. It was only one of ten thousand things he loved about her. Or that he used to love about her. She wasn’t his to love anymore. She wa
s Dutch’s now, and Mantis had to respect the man who had always showed him the utmost consideration.
As hard as it was going to be to finally let her go, what choice did he have? He’d destroyed every chance they’d had to make it work. She’d warned him again and again that if he didn’t listen, didn’t put her first for once in their relationship, she would leave him for good. It wasn’t as though he called her bluff. He’d left because he had a mission he needed to complete. It wasn’t a choice for him even though she insisted it was.
Now that the mission was over, it was too late. On top of it, he knew that if he had to do it all over again, he’d make the same decisions. He owed it to his family. He’d wished then, like he wished now, that she understood, but she hadn’t, and no amount of wishing would change that.
—:—
“What are you thinking about?” she asked Mantis as they got in the car that would take them to the airfield.
He smiled. “How much of a total badass you are.”
“I’m not feeling very badass these days.” She looked out the window at the planes taking off and landing, missing it more than she could put words to. The idea that she may never fly again crushed her.
“We’ll get you back in the cockpit,” Mantis said, the little finger of his hand barely brushing hers as they sat next to each other in the back seat.
She shook her head, afraid to hope he was right, but praying he was.
Chapter 11
Dutch
It felt like he’d been punched in the gut, but Dutch knew, deep in his heart, that he was doing the right thing by leaving, even if it meant lying about a mission he hadn’t yet been assigned.
He’d asked the driver to pull into the parking lot across from the restaurant and park. From there he saw Mantis and Alegria leave, their body language telling him everything he needed to know to confirm he was doing the right thing.
That Alegria was leaving with Mantis was confirmation enough. There was a chance he was simply giving her a ride back to the terminal so she could catch a flight to JFK, but something told him that wasn’t what was going on. He’d bet anything that Mantis had asked her to fly to Westchester with him, and they were headed to the airfield.
He considered, only for a moment, asking the driver to follow them, but he didn’t. Instead, he told the man he could go ahead and take him to the long-term parking lot where his own vehicle sat waiting for his long and lonely drive back to his empty house in Newport News.
Alegria wasn’t the only woman he’d ever loved, just the one he loved the most.
Before Mantis left for his final mission to Afghanistan; before Dutch learned that he and Alegria had called it quits; before she called him from a local bar, crying and begging him to meet her there—he’d had someone else in his life.